Average Rating: 4.7/10
Reviews Counted: 9
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 6
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 1
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 479
Dostoyevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov is given a Hollywood screen treatment by producer Pandro S. Berman and director Richard Brooks. Yul Brynner plays Dmitri Karamazov, a callous Russian officer who cuckolds his domineering father (Lee J. Cobb) with the old man's mistress Grushenka (Maria Schell). Richard Basehart is Dmitri's intellectual brother Ivan, while William Shatner is the pious Alexey Karamazov; both men eventually enjoy the attentions of the willing Grushenka. The Karamazovs'
Jun 1, 1957 Wide
MGM Home Entertainment
All Critics (9) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (3) | Rotten (6)
Bold handling of crude unbridled passion, of violently conflicting ideas, and of earthy humor makes up The Brothers Karamazov.
Conspicuous assets are the striking color photography and the musical score, both of which help a great deal in enhancing the drama's savage and soulful moods.
While not as terrible as his subsequent adaptation of Lord Jim, this 1958 Hollywoodization of the Dostoyevsky novel by writer-director Richard Brooks is pretty grotesque all the same.
I would avoid this film as readily as one avoids Siberia.
The film feels like 'Classics Comics' instead of a classic.
Very uncertain in period and atmosphere, and saddled with some terrible performances.
When the acting's good, it's very good, but when it's bad, it's laughable and director Brooks' attempts at injecting Slavic intensity misfire badly sometimes.
The 1958 movie is an affront to Dostoyevsky. Richard Brooks butchered the plot. Instead of a philosophical drama showing the consequences of nihilism: no god, no moral law, everything is permissible. Brooks turned the movie into a childish morality tale about money. Yul Brynner and Claire Bloom held my attention.
August 31, 2009
It is lavish and well made, it has a fine cast and excellent production values but it also bored me, and it is tediously overlong and drawn out.
November 3, 2008
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